If Jeanne Shaheen D Senator-New Hampshire follows the Bill Clinton-Debbie Wasserman Shultz-Alex Sink-Alison Grimes “We want to fix the ACA” talking point then the Democratic Party is in big trouble.
Even a dork like Scott Brown will have a chance.

Our best chance to win in 2014 is to convince these negative democratic leaders and candidates to join with us to promote the ACA.

Allison Grimes calls Bill Clinton “The President” and says with him in her corner she needs nobody else.
Really?
Ask the Clinton promoted candidate in LA Mayoral race—whatshername—She Lost. Just like Alex Sink.
And I believe if POTUS and FLOTUS and VPOTUS hadn’t shown up for Terry McCauliffe in VA that would have been another Clinton humiliation.

Is there any way to replace Debbie with a Democrat who wants Democrats to win in 2014?
Rather than waiting for Hillary.

PBO upset a lot of apple carts. He hadn’t “paid his dues”, he stole the nomination—by actually reading the rules and tailoring his strategy to them. The reason so many Dems leave him fluttering in the wind by himself is because they just don’t like him. And the fact that he’s successful in spite of that just angers them even more.

Good analysis. Yes, he worked hard using the rules, and I believe, knew it was his time, then or never. I think that is actually what Dick Durbin told him.

The women who wanted Hillary only, will probably never get over that loss. They want Hillary to BE president, they have no care what policies she espouses or what she will actually do. They just want HER as CIC with all the trappings.

I’m reminded of a story Chris Matthews told on himself. He said he was thinking of running for the Senate in Pa. He loved politics, yadayada…you know Chris. But then someone asked him, but Chris what do you plan to DO if elected? That brought him up short, and he realized he just wanted to BE a Senator.

That is the feeling I get with Hillary’s supporters…..just let her BE president by golly! Actually having a vision or plan is not important.

I don’t get the sense that Hillary has any idea or vision for the country. She just wants to coast in on her reputation.

Carolyn and Liberal Librarian—You guys have nailed this each in your own way.
Yes POTUS read the rules and tailored his campaign to benefit from caucuses. Delegate count was the measuring stick. And PBO just kept running up the count.
Hillary Only and like you said Carolyn…just to Be President. Just as she was SOS. I defy anyone to cite a single accomplishment of her reign as Secretary.

I think the President broke the rules widddddddde open…in fact he created a NEW set of rules…Organizing…Fundraising….etc….not many have the heart or the will to follow in his footsteps…and that is to the detriment of the Obama Coalition……

‘I don’t get the sense that Hillary has any idea or vision for the country. She just wants’ to BE president.

That’s my feeling too, Carolyn. Other than a few issues there and there, I really do not feel that Hillary has a comprehensive view of how to lead the country in the 21st century. I see her as someone who could/would be easily led by the old advisers with their old ideas. I’m not saying old is bad or that all their ideas would be bad, but I don’t see Hillary having ANYTHING new to offer – other than her sex; the 1st female president. In addition, I haven’t forgotten that the Clintons, and Hillary, do not know how to handle (public) finances, or how to wisely choose people who do.

Agree about Hillary, carolyn. It was tough for me until the start of Barack Obama’s campaign when he announced in Springfield. To that point, I was a Joe Biden voter, first, but then I thought if Hillary got the nomination, I’d vote for her next.

But once I heard Senator Obama announce … that was it for me. The only reason I was conflicted was that some of us had come through the “women’s movement” back in the ’70s and ’80s, as you know, and Hillary looked like our first chance to sit at the adult table on Thanksgiving in the White House. I called a same-age friend – I was almost distraught about it – and told her, “I want a woman to be President, but I’m not really that into her. And I really, really like this guy Barack Obama, after my first choice of Joe Biden [whom I’ve been in love with for decades – Ha!].”

I’ve thanked my friend many times since, for her reminder (so I didn’t waste a vote): “Yes, we want a woman. But we don’t want just ‘any’ woman. That would be worse. We’ve got to vote for Barack Obama.”

Of course, during the ’08 campaign – in particular in SC – I stopped thinking kind thoughts of Hillary until she was selected for SOS, and I’m done with her now as a candidate. And I definitely have never forgiven Bill Clinton for his remarks, and am sorry I defended his a$$ for eight years when he was in D.C. – not as much for what he did there, but what he did later.

I think Hillary and Bill just want her to BE the President too. It fits my earlier thoughts that when you just want to hold a position being popular is most important as you need the most votes to win. In that case polling and going with what is most popular is important. The people will be happy in the short run, but a vision for what is best for the Country cannot be achieved when there is no vision.

Yes, since one so clearly has something to do with the other. NOT. This is more rubbish and an embarrassment in the global arena, especially for people who don’t understand our brand of discordant political haranguing.

Elon Musk is sending new customers from New Jersey to New York or Pennsylvania. The Tesla CEO lashed out at New Jersey — and particularly Gov. Chris Christie — in a company blog post Friday, three days after a state agency agreed to ban the electric car company from selling vehicles directly to customers in the Garden State.

“The rationale given for the regulation change that requires auto companies to sell through dealers is that it ensures ‘consumer protection,’ Musk wrote. “If you believe this, Gov. Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you” — referring to the closure of the George Washington Bridge last September, allegedly instigated for political reasons by aides to Christie.

ONLY CNN would have to explain the logic behind “Gov Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you”
The original blog post by Musk is a good read

“On Tuesday, under pressure from the New Jersey auto dealer lobby to protect its monopoly, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, composed of political appointees of the Governor, ended your right to purchase vehicles at a manufacturer store within the state. Governor Christie had promised that this would be put to a vote of the elected state legislature, which is the appropriate way to change the law. When it became apparent to the auto dealer lobby that this approach would not succeed, they cut a backroom deal with the Governor to circumvent the legislative process and pass a regulation that is fundamentally contrary to the intent of the law.”

Maybe because he thinks he’s gay, he can’t be racist too? maybe he thinks he knows what discrimination feels like, because he is not one of the ‘privileged’ one’s. Just guessing, I read him a few times, long ago, but as soon as the ODS and Obama bashing started, I dropped him. He’s just not that interesting.

I’m with you NW – haven’t read a word he says (except the odd comment on TOD or other blogs) since his racist posts on the bell curve.
His only claim to fame was the anti Palin rant – now over 5 years ago.

I really enjoyed the videos about PM Kenny’s visit. I have such a good feeling about him and the people of Ireland. I’m glad to hear their economy is improving too. I’ve got to go back and see all the goodness in the rest of today’s posts and comments. I’ll be looking to see the news and adding any good news. Happy Friday to all!

I thought this article was interesting and very helpful. I’m decluttering my home and wanting to let go of anything unneeded or unwanted. President Obama seems to naturally understands how necessary that is for him to deal with the complexity of office.

….”You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” [Obama] said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

This is because, the Commander in Chief explained, the act of making a decision erodes your ability to make later decisions. Psychologists call it decision fatigue: it’s why shopping for groceries can be so exhausting and judges give harsher rulings later in the day….

This also explains why moms like school uniforms. Fewer decisions to make every morning! Grocery shopping is an endurance contest to me, yet I go almost every day because I don’t plan for a week now that there are only two of us. Just one more proof of how smart our POTUS is!

The U.N. Security Council is meeting Saturday to vote on a resolution on the Ukraine crisis, but permanent member Russia is virtually certain to veto it.

The Luxembourg mission to the U.N. tweeted Friday that the council will meet Saturday morning. Luxembourg currently holds the council presidency.

The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, urges all parties “to pursue immediately the peaceful resolution of this dispute through direct political dialogue.”

It says Ukraine has not authorized Sunday’s referendum in Crimea on whether to become part of Russia, and “declares that this referendum can have no validity, and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of Crimea.”

—————-
It is likely that Ukraine will bring the matter before the UN General Assembly – early next week – since Russia does not have veto power over General Assembly resolutions. The effort will be to isolate Russia as completely as possible and deny any legitimacy to a separatist Crimea.

Bobfr, do you know if Crimeans HAVE to vote? If they sabotaged this referendum by not showing up in mega numbers or by spoiling their ballots, wouldn’t that be a good message to Russia and the world, or would that just mean that those who showed up carry the day?

I actually think it would be great for her career if she played Sith.
It would certainly go against type and give her a chance to showcase her range (and she can play an evil or at least cold calculating villain).

The biggest mistake that fresh faces and new Oscar winners like her make is to go for the exact type of character for their next movie, but in a different scenario – thereby type=casting themselves so early in their careers.

I think she’d totally kill it.
Plus, think of all the glorious costumes she’ll get to wear.

If it hasn’t been mentioned earlier (and if it has – worth a repeat) – Nate Silver is relaunching http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ on Monday. He left the NYT in the middle of last year – so has spent the time putting it all together – shows Ezra the right way to go about it – also says

“Uhhhh, you know … the op-ed columnists at the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal are probably the most hedgehoglike people. They don’t permit a lot of complexity in their thinking. They pull threads together from very weak evidence and draw grand conclusions based on them. They’re ironically very predictable from week to week. If you know the subject that Thomas Friedman or whatever is writing about, you don’t have to read the column. You can kind of auto-script it, basically.”

“My (Nate Silver’s) personal Twitter account is now @NateSilver538. If you were following me on Twitter before when I was @FiveThirtyEight, you’re still automatically following me now that I’m @NateSilver538.

However, @FiveThirtyEight has been reborn as our newsroom’s team account. You should consider following that one if you haven’t yet. It will provide the most comprehensive feed of our coverage on a day-to-day basis.”

The new concept is based on many folks – not just Nate – worth looking at the hires – and the concept (how new!) that facts – not pundits – should guide news reporting. There are tweets from both sides of politics supporting the roll out – so I wouldn’t write it off just yet.

Welcome back Layla! Glad that you are well and we definitely missed you the past month. But we understand that every now and again, folks take time off from TOD to do what they have to do, to catch up on life, to get things done at work, to take care of health, family, and all of that. 🙂 🙂

Jonathan Capehart just made a good reminder point on Hardball——a notice to the people who tend to only turn up to vote when Obama is on the ballot——–Obama IS on the midterm ballot——–all his policies, accomplishments, ideals, goals are at stake (and ours)——-and worse. I am hoping ads can make that clear—–everything that most sane people hold dear—–all the social justices—-are on the ballot. And tweety mentioned they will try impeachment also if they gain control of both the house and the senate. Dems cannot be allowed to be nonchalant about this election.

So good to see you, Layla. I was also worried, but I know that we all have spaces in our lives that cause for attention that will take us out of this beautiful space for a while to catch up on those matters as well. {{{{{{{{{{{{ Love to you, my dear Layla}}}}}}}}}}}}}HZ

{{{{{{{{{{{{ To my CarolMae}}}}}}}}}}}}}HZ

{{{{{{{{{{{{ A beautiful celebration with Mom, GoBrooklyn}}}}}}}}}} Get some rest, Gobrooklyn. HZ

A long loving appreciation for all of the brilliant contributors with our beautiful Chips. Thanks NerdyW, LL, Amk, Bobfr, Don, Donna, ZiZi, Tally, Desertflower, all of your brilliant and bright loving spirits here in this wonderful family. I Love You All so very much. ()HZ